Introduction

This course introduces Microsoft Office Live and Google docs and explores how these free online services can be used in educational contexts to share documents with learners and colleagues. The course will demonstrate how to set up workspaces and permissions for document access, and will explore ideas for use of shared documents for collaborative projects both within and between schools. Ideas for use of these spaces for curriculum planning and other management activities will also be discussed. The course will look at the use of online forms to collect data from users and how this could be used in subject areas, for example, in collecting survey data or for fieldwork. The course materials are arranged in three sections:

• preparation for the face-to-face session
• information about the face-to-face session
• following the face-to-face session, activities including a classroom-based activity

The Practitioner Research Cycle

Vital Model Courses are based on the Practitioner Research Cycle as shown in the diagram below.

This cycle draws on, and develops, personal and professional knowledge bases. The latter may be seen in the literature, resources, policies and other materials that are used to inform practice.

Throughout the course small icons will indicate the stage of the cycle being addressed.

NB Prof/Pers KB = Professional/Personal knowledge base